It is that time of the year again, to celebrate the contributions of Latinos in the United States.

UC ANR joins the celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM), starting Sept. 15 and ending Oct. 15, with a series of events aimed at creating awareness of the struggles of Latinos, and celebrating their contributions to the U.S. and the world. 

As in previous years, UC ANR will hold several Zoom forums, with topics such as:

• How to stop the implicit bias towards Latinos and other ethnic groups
• What we need to know to better understand Latino communities
• Who are indigenous migrant workers; what are their most pressing needs; why have they been hit especially hard by COVID-19

All the webinar forums will be from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and moderated by Ricardo Vela, manager of News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS). On Sept. 29, we will celebrate three UC ANR professionals who were selected as HHM 2021 Honorees. The first three will be conducted in English and the community forums will be conducted in Spanish.

September 15 Zoom Forum

“One Size Does Not Fit All! – Myths, Stereotypes and Discrimination against Latinos”

Guest speaker: Victor Villegas, Oregon State University, Latino advocate

Testimonies from: Christian Gomez Wong, Beatriz Nobua-Behrmann and Bertha Teresa Felix-Simmons

September 22 Zoom Forum

“Indigenous Migrant Communities: The Forgotten Ones in the Age of COVID-19”

Guest speaker: Arcenio López, Executive Director, Mixtec Indígena Organization Project (MICOP) 

September 29 Zoom Forum

“Meet the HHM 2021 Honorees”

Guest speakers: Katherine E. Soule introducing Liliana Vega, 4-H; Tuline Baykal introducing Leticia Christian, CalFresh Healthy Living, UC; Jairo Diaz and Gilberto Magallon introducing Gersain Lopez, Desert REC.

Under the slogan “Celebrating Together Hispanic Heritage Month,” we have partnered with volunteers from UC Master Gardeners, 4-H Youth advisors and CalFresh Healthy Living, UC educators to bring these programs to the Latino community. We have three Zoom forums with topics that we learned are relevant to Spanish-speaking Latinos. 

October 6 Zoom Community Forum in Spanish

“Be Better Parents, How to Make Your Kid a Leader”

Guest speaker: Claudia Diaz, 4-H youth development advisor

October 13 Zoom Community Forum in Spanish

“How to Have a Successful Vegetable Garden”

Guest speakers: UC Master Gardener volunteers from UCCE Sonoma County 

October 15 Zoom Community Forum in Spanish

“The Power of a Nutritional Meal”

Guest speaker: Susana Matias Medrano, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in nutritional science and toxicology, UC Berkeley

Please help us make this year's celebration a success, spread the word about the events.

Those interested in attending the September forums should register here.

For the Spanish community forums, please register here.

For more information, Zoom backgrounds and phone wallpapers

Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 (Main page) http://ucanr.edu/hhm-2021

Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 (Recursos, Resources) http://ucanr.edu/hhm-2021-recursos_resources

Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 (Recetas) http://ucanr.edu/hhm-2021-recetas 

UC ANR Honorees Page https://tinyurl.com/ycpcdufh

If you have any questions, please contact:

Ricardo Vela, rvela@ucanr.edu, (951) 660-9887